


Tempest

by DT Maxwell (Draya)



Series: Our Blades Are Sharp [21]
Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Sith Shenanigans, Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, and here we have Phae finally reaching the end of her slow-fuse temper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 06:55:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1769815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draya/pseuds/DT%20Maxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darth Makhaira, as Sith go, is not an individual who blithely kills her employees for every failure or incompetence on their part. The smart ones learn from their mistakes, and the stupid ones can eventually be taught. Her three strikes policy has, so far, worked very well.</p><p>This is what happens when someone uses all their strikes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my [tumblr](http://dragons-bones.tumblr.com/post/74352444663/swtor-tempest) in January 2014.
> 
> Phae, as far as Sith go, is very chill. It's in a person's best interests _not to change that._

“I am tired of your continued incompetence, Lord Avoress,” Darth Makhaira said, arms crossed. She wore a high-necked dress of black velvet, the hem of the skirt raised in the front to show thigh-high heeled boots in soft black nerfhide that clung to her legs; a plain nerfhide belt cinched at her waist, her saberstaff clipped to it. The ensemble made her appear to blend in with the gloom of the laboratory.

Lord Avoress knelt in the wreckage of the lab at the Darth’s feet, wringing her hands and doing a surprisingly admirable job of ignoring the two knives pinning her feet to the floor. “My lord, I am so close to unlocking-“

“Three of my interns are dead. Two of the most promising apprentices in the cadre are in kolto tanks. Oranis isn’t expected to live through the night. And it took myself and four other Darths to contain and reseal the entity you and your _fucking_ idiocy decided to _wake up and piss off!_ ”

“The casualties were necessary to-“

_“If you finish that sentence, I will rip out your tongue.”_

Avoress’s ruby skin paled, and the lord snapped her mouth closed with an audible ‘click.’

Power roiled around Darth Makhaira, and purple lightning began to crackle in the air. “The students - Sith and non-Sith both - are meant to _learn,_ ” she said, voice steady and rage carefully leashed. “They are to understand the secrets we guard, to give those secrets the respect they are due, and to gain the ability to safeguard them when our time has passed. They are not _fodder._ They are not _test subjects._ They are the future of the Sith Empire and not toys to be broken at some fool’s whim!” By the end of the sentence, she had foregone all attempts at calm, her voice reaching a furious crescendo and _thundering_ with the Force, shaking the room.

The darth took a step forward and leaned down to glare into Avoress’s eyes. “That phylactery was supposed to be in the high security vault and was not to be studied by anyone without clearance. There isn’t a hope in hell I’d give it to you, not after the last two catastrophes you caused. I am sure when my secretary slices the records to find out how you gained access, she will find that you forged my signature.

“Three strikes, Avoress.”

Darth Makhaira wrapped her hand around Avoress’s throat, and unleashed the gathered Force storm.

Avoress _screamed._


End file.
